I was walking through Ponyville with Vesper once again riding on my back. I'd sent a letter to Celestia asking her about the diet of a phoenix and she quickly replied with a list of various things including a lot of meat.

We were on our way to Applejack's farm. Contrary to popular belief in the town, Applejack and her family didn't just sell apples alone. She also bred animals to sell to traders in the Griffon Kingdom, which is what I wanted to talk to her about. Vesper wasn't in any shape to obtain or prepare meat herself, there was no way in bucking Tartarus I was preparing it (though I was fine buying for her), Watcher was still in jail in Canterlot, Twilight and Rarity most likely had the same thoughts that I did about meat, I didn't really want to know what Pinkie's reaction would be which left Applejack, who traded with the Griffon Kingdom, and Rainbow Dash, who used to be friends with a Griffon, as the only Ponies that could really help. I'd chosen to speak with Applejack since she was easier to find and probably knew where I could buy meat that was already prepared.

Vesper cawed to get my attention. If you'd stop being such a pussy about it, I could just show you how to prepare it yourself. Wait, how do you know how to do it? Let's just say that this isn't the first time I've had to eat meat, and leave it at that. So not only have you had wings before, you've also eaten meat as well? It was a weird few days. What happened? I'll tell you the full story later. The point is, meat is bucking delicious. I've actually kinda missed it, though it has been about eight years so maybe it's not as good as I remember... You really need to tell me about your childhood at some point.

We arrived. Applejack was bucking trees and the rest of her family was nowhere in sight. I walked to her.

"Hey, Applejack," I greeted, gaining her attention.

"'Owy, la'," she replied. "Uh' 'an Ah oo' foo' yoo'?" She spotted Vesper on my back. "Wah' oo' ar' ha' uh 'urry 'ird?"

"Long story short; Vesper's a phoenix now. Do you know where I can buy meat?"

"Wah' oo' yoo' ee' 'urt? Ah hoo-hoo yoo ow eht goose?"

"I do, but she has a specific diet now."

"Wee, ar moo sans."

"Yeah. I don't really wan to touch it or anything so if you could tell me where to get already prepared stuff..." Applejack waved a hoof dismissively.

"Do war, Ah've gah yoo' coovooroo. Ee' yoo' 'isli'e ee' thar moo' hee' yoo' shoes agh 'rie' urt leek jury. Thar rar quee uh foo 'Riphoo 'rien'ly s'ores aroo 'ow, Ah'll shoo yoo whie la'er."

"Jerky?"

"Yar, i' i' moo' ea' 'uh 'ee' weh' 'n' Vas'ar shoe 'e a'le 'uh ea' i' moo' ea' agh wheel." I scratched my chin. That's pretty good. I guess it couldn't hurt to try since it makes a good middleground.

"Thanks, Applejack. Do you need any help around the farm?"

"Nah thar, Ah'll ee' feh. Ah'll shoe yoo eh' s'ores aroo' launch."

"Okay. I'll see you around lunch then." Applejack went back to bucking trees. What now? Back to the library? We need to go and get the non-meat stuff for you around town. Okay. I summoned a Support Circle and flew back to town, Vesper flying beside me.

We came back at around lunch and, as she promised, Applejack showed us Griffon friendly shops that sold dried meats. I bought about ten packets of beef jerky (ugh...) before heading back to the library. I realised that there wasn't really any way for Vesper to get the food without the help of Twilight or I, so I spent half an hour collecting rocks, transmuting them into airtight containers, teleporting the different foods into them and finally carving some runes onto the outside of the containers.

Vesper, who had somehow been reading a book, flew up next to me and squawked. I cast another psychic link spell. What's up? What are you making? A food dispenser system so you can eat without my help. You touch a rune on a container and a small amount of food is teleported out. Nice. Thanks.

I finished carving the last rune and fed some magic into each of them. I pressed a hoof to one of them causing a small flash of light and, sure enough, a few seeds teleported to on top of the container. I smiled.

"And that's that," I said out loud. "You try pressing it now so we can be sure that it will work for you." Okay. Vesper hovered next to the same rune I pressed and pressed it herself with a claw. There was another flash and more seeds appeared on top of the container. I teleported all of the seeds back into the container before talking again. "There we go. Now you can eat whenever you want." Vesper landed on a table. Is it weird that we're both pretty much over that I'm a bird now even though it's only been about a day? "Probably. But we both know that getting torn up over changes in our lives is illogical and a general waste of time." ... I turned to her. "What's wrong?" ...Nothing... "If you insist."

I stood up and stretched out my back before heading to the door. "I'm gonna go read for a couple of hours, then probably eat. Squawk if you need me." ...Sure... I stopped. "Okay, why are you suddenly so quiet?" Vesper bird-sighed. It's not really something I want to talk about right now. Or for a very long time. "Fine." I cut off the Psychic link spell. She's obviously hiding something, but the question I should focus on right now is how it relates to what I said before... I hope she's okay...

Author's Notes:

As always, Accentjack is fun to write.
I actually wrote out what I wanted her to say completely normally first before turning it into... That, so I know exactly what she's saying!

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Should I write a chapter about Vesper telling the story of how she's had wings and eaten meat before, or just get on with the plot and leave it a mystery?
Say so in the comments below!